Much Ado About Draco

Chapter two: Of a wizarding duel and a travelling mind

The days passed quickly that week. The daily Quidditch practise, lessons and homework occupied most of Ginny's time. Only in the evenings, when she lay in bed she had time for herself, time for thinking. Thinking of grey eyes, white-blond hair, a sneer and a drawling voice. (the first two things sound a lot more attractive than the last two, but when a girl's in love she would even think the guy was attractive if he had two heads)

She had seen him only at lunchtime that week and was really starting to miss their arguments, although he had always insulted her.

Despite her rather bad mood she had to grin. I would have never thought that I'd ever miss Malfoy! she thought to herself.

Yeah, but then you never think anyway, so I'm not surprised, her conscious replied.

Not you again, I was trying to concentrate on happy thoughts!

You seemed rather blue to me, and I thought you needed a little cheering up!

Well, no thanks, not your way of cheering up!

You don't even know my way of cheering up! Her conscious almost seemed hurt.

Well, I bet it includes a lot of insults and bad language.

Where do you take this knowledge? That is not true!

So what do you plan to do for cheering me up?

Um, you know, everybody has bad times, it's going to be better soon, you know!

You know what? I guess you had better shut up and let me sleep. And never try to be nice again. You are much more agreeable when you're nasty. And with that, she turned around and in theory was going to fall asleep immediately.

In reality she only succeeded to close her eyes. So she sighed and stood up. Suddenly she felt a strange feeling of emptiness in her stomach, as if she hadn't eaten anything all day. And then it dawned to her that she hadn't eaten anything for dinner, because she had been so nervous.

Why on earth had she been so nervous? She sat down on her bed and started to think, which wasn't so easy at one o'clock in the morning. And then she remembered it. It was Saturday! Tomorrow was Sunday! No, it was one am, so it was already Sunday!That meant that today was the Quidditch game against Slytherin! She had to play against Draco! Oh dear, that was going to be like hell.

Suddenly she heard a strange noise. Frightened, she looked around and tried to make out whatever had caused it. There it was again! And then she realised: it was her stomach, reminding her of the lack of nutrition it had suffered lately. So she got up and headed for the kitchen. (Fred and George had shown her how to get there in her second year.)

When she got there she found only a few house-elves that were still up, cleaning the kitchen. She asked them for some food and was given immediately tons and tons of chocolate, butterbeer, pieces of cake, pumpkin juice, sandwiches and much more. She wasn't sure whether she would be able to carry it all, but the house-elves flatly refused to take anything back, so she slowly made her way back.

The dark corridors gave her the creeps, but she had no hand free to draw her wand and illuminate it. There was only very little light coming from a torch hanging in the hallway. But it was quite far away, and it cast shadows that looked so horrible that Ginny wished there was no light at all instead of the constantly flickering dim rays of light that radiated from the torch.

Suddenly she felt something that reminded her of a shoulder smashing into her cheek. A moment later she realized that it was a shoulder. What's a shoulder doing in the corridors? She wondered. It took her another moment to look whether the shoulder maybe belonged to a body. And really - there stood a whole person in front of her. It was... Ginny gasped. She was about to say something when the person shot out a hand and covered her mouth with it. And as if that wasn't enough she felt herself being dragged into the shadows so she got pressed against the wall.

Draco was lying in bed wide awake. He was bored and also a little anxious. He always was before playing against Gryffindor. Please, let me win against that bastard Potter only once! He thought. And if we don't win, Weasley should at least wear a skirt again...-hey, what am I thinking? Did I really think that? Oh dear, I'm going mental!

He sighed. Other people would have said that these thoughts were caused by his nervousness, but Draco couldn't agree with that, because of the simple fact that he was never nervous. He was a bit anxious, okay, but nervous-no. I am NOT nervous. I never am. I never sit around, thinking and hands shaking. Why the *** are my hands shaking? Hey, my hands never shake! MY HANDS NEVER SHAKE! If thoughts could ever sound desperate, his thoughts would have surely sounded very desperate.

For some moments Draco just sat on his bed, staring at his hand unbelievingly. "I can't believe it! My hands are shaking!" he finally murmured to himself.

From somewhere underneath a dozen of blankets he heard Blaise say: "Well, I'm not surprised! You idiot haven't been eating a proper meal for two days now. So just go to the kitchen, get something to eat and bloody hell shut up, you're not the only one here."

Hungry, I am hungry! Oh dear, I am hungry! And I thought I was nervous. Of course I am not! I am just hungry!

That sure is a good thing to know. Usually you feel it when you are hungry, but if you are Draco Malfoy, you have to wait for someone to tell you! And besides, you are not nervous, he? Why didn't you eat by the way?

Draco, who was on his way to the kitchen by now stopped abruptly. Where was that voice coming from?

Inside your head, idiot.

"What, there is someone talking inside my head?"

Yeah, I am called a conscious. Are you always that slow or is it just because it is so late?

"Hey, you don't have to insult me! For that I have people like Potter or those Weasleys, I certainly don't need a voice inside my head doing it too! Where do you come from, anyway? I never had a talking voice inside my head."

Uh, I am, let's say borrowed, because I uh, wanted to, uh have a change, somehow...

"So I have someone else's talking voice in my head. Splendid! Who is it? Not some Mudblood, or worse, a Muggle?"

No, no, I can't travel that far. In fact I didn't even know I could travel until I tried tonight.

"Whose conscious are you? It's not a Hufflepuff, is it?"

No!

"Gryffindor?"

Uh...

"Oh dear, you are a Gryffindor's conscious! Who is it? Not Potter, not Potter please. I couldn't stand having a little talking Potter in my head for the rest of my life."

No, I am not Harry Potter's conscious, and I'm certainly not like the person I belong to. Oh dear, imagine being like her...

"Her? I have a female talking voice in my head?"

No, I am neither male nor female.

"It's Weasley, isn't it?"

Where do you know.

"Oh, I just thought of the female Gryffindor I would least want to spend all my time with."

Hey, stop insulting her for a change.

"Why should I? I thought you didn't like her?"

That is my business, and not yours. And I will return to her now.

"Good, because I will certainly enjoy having time for myself again."

Just in the moment when he said that he bumped into a little figure, which stopped abruptly, staring at his shoulder for a few seconds. Only then she took a step back to look at him. It was Ginny Weasley. She opened her mouth and breathed in deeply as if to scream veeeeery loud and veeeeery long.

So he acted without thinking and silenced her by covering her mouth with his hand and drew her into the shadows. "Shhhh," he hissed. "If you scream now, not only I will get detention, but you will too. Now look what you've done! I've got chocolate and butterbeer all over my pajamas. That is Chinese silk. These pajamas have probably cost more than your house."

"Hmgmbl"

"I beg your pardon?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, closed them and bit into his fingers which caused him to flinch slightly. "I said 'put your hand away or I'll bite you'."

He snorted and made a made sure to remember to learn how to understand people who were talking while having their mouth shut. But instead of saying anything he only pressed her into the wall more forcefully, causing her to gasp. "If those pajamas are ruined, you will pay them," he snapped.

She only looked at him startled. Oh dear, I guess she's afraid now. If she always only stares when she's afraid I guess this going to be boring. Where's the fun? he thought completely misinterpreting her behavior. When it dawned to him that he was actually standing with Ginny Weasley in a dark corridor, pressing her against a wall with his full body and that she maybe didn't quite know what he intended to do he started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

Okay, what do you do when standing in a dark, deserted corridor like this? Kiss the girl. No, not a good option! So he took one of the many chocolate bars that were sticking out of her pocket and began eating it. Now she was staring at him even more curiously. "Have a bite?" he said, just to say something. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to let go of her.

"Erm," she replied.

"Well, if you don't want it, why did you take it then?" he said.

"I didn't say I didn't want to eat it. I just don't feel like eating something you have already started."

"Why, do you think I am poisonous? It's just my lips. They are certainly not poisonous, see..." he said and then licked his lower lip. Why am I talking and doing such nonsense. Hello, earth to Draco, this is Ginny Weasley.

He looked down on her. Yes, definitely Ginny Weasley, although she looked a bit intimidated. That only makes her look even sweeter than she is anyway.

Following a sudden inspiration which he couldn't explain later he slowly bent down to her face and slowly brushed her lips. When he looked at her again she was eyeing him suspiciously. Following another inspiration he said, "Well, am I poisonous now, or not?" he asked grinning -grinning, not smirking - and then turned and walked away.

Ginny stood in the hallway, watching Draco as he was leaving. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She slowly reached up and touched her lips absentmindedly where Draco had brushed them. I guess I should be angry now

Good guess.

Ginny let herself sink down slowly on the floor and started to think about what had just happened.

He does look strikingly good in his black silk pyjamas she thought, sighing. But why had he behaved that ridiculously? Had he been drunk? No, he couldn't have been. Dumbledore had made it impossible for students to get their hands on alcohol. But then, Hagrid had managed to hold a dragon without Dumbledore noticing. Hm, strange...

Slowly she got up again, her lips still feeling rather funny from Draco's touch. Why did he kiss me? That thought kept spinning through her mind. Her silent answers reached from 'Because he likes you' to 'He was drunk' to 'He is just a teenager and his hormones were taking over the control of his body' to 'Because the Dark Lord wants him to get near to one of Harry's friends and Draco had refused to kiss Ron' and so on.

When she reached her dorm, she changed her mind and didn't go to sleep instantly but took a long, hot shower. In the end her feet, her face and her backside had the colour of fresh hummer, and she felt slightly lost in the white steam that crowded the whole room. But she was used to it, because she always showered that hot and had learned how to find the door with her eyes closed, which was much easier than trying to get a glimpse of it through the white mist. With the final thought tomorrow is going to be really interesting she left the room and went to bed.

When Sheila woke her up the next morning Ginny felt like she would die. Not because she was in pain, but because she felt as if someone had drained all her strength out of her. I really shouldn't stay up that long in the night before a Quidditch match. But that feeling vanished soon when she realised what she had just thought. The match!

Ginny almost jumped out of her bed, got herself dressed in less than a minute, combed her hair and managed to get it into a tight knot at the back of her head, so it wouldn't be in the way during the game.

Then she ran downstairs into the Great Hall, which was almost empty at that time of the day -or better: of the night. Only some Gryffindors and Slytherins were already up: the Quidditch teams. Oh yeah, and Sheila, who always joined them. Ginny wasn't quite sure whether she did that because Sheila slightly fancied their keeper Robin Wainwraith or because she wanted to eat with Ginny.

Ginny slumped into a chair between Sheila and Colin, and because Sheila was enthusiastically talking to Robin she turned to Colin and asked, "And, how are you feeling? Nervous?"

He nodded, swallowed some porridge he had just stuffed into his mouth and said, gesturing with his spoon,"Yes, I'm almost dying. Those Slytherin Beaters scare the hell out of me!"

Ginny nodded, trying to avoid being hit by Colin's spoon. "Yeah," she finally agreed. "You're right. Man, those aren't Beaters, they are flying walls. You should need a licence for letting them play. I wonder if they'd beat up Malfoy if they had a little dispute on tactics. Would be cool!"

She looked at Colin, waiting for him to nod or say anything. Instead he shifted uncomfortably in his chair and stared at a point somewhere behind her left ear.

She raised an eyebrow, silently asking him whether something was wrong. Finally she said, "He is standing right behind my chair, isn't he?" And with that she turned around, facing Draco Malfoy, as she had expected.

"You can't have a dispute on tactics with them," he announced stiffly. "They don't even know how to spell neither dispute nor tactics correctly."

Then he turned and was about to walk away, when Ginny whispered, more to herself than to anyone in particular, "Of course they don't, they are Slytherins"

He seemed to have heard that, because he spun around, walked back to her chair, bent down, rested his arms on the back of the chair and hissed silently, so no one save her could hear him, "The fact that I myself am not poisonous does not mean that I don't possess any or wouldn't use it. If I was you I would watch what I'm saying in the future, because else you'll see your Grandma sooner than you would like to, believe me!"

Why should I visit my grandmother? It took Ginny a few moments to notice that Malfoy had just threatened to kill her. She desperately tried to think of something to say except for 'Sorry, my Grandma visited us this summer, you know, she is still alive, murder doesn't occur in our family that often as it does in yours. People actually get old!' but her mind was blank at that moment.

Do something. You can't let him say that! Her conscious cried.

So Ginny grabbed the first thing she was able to get -it was her bowl with porridge- and poured it over Malfoy's head. That was certainly a very childish thing to do, but she couldn't think of anything else. She prepared herself for the embarrassed silence that would most certainly follow, and hoped that everyone would forget the incident soon.

But surprisingly Sheila cried, "Yeah, foodfight!" and shot a spoon of porridge at Colin, who took his roll and threw it at Harry, who was just pouring his pumpkin juice over Persephone's head.

Soon the whole Gryffindor team was throwing around food happily, and no one watched the retreating figure of Draco Malfoy, frowning darkly at Ginny, while trying to get the porridge out of his hair.

Ten minutes later, when the girls had finally gotten the boys to give up, Ginny was surprised how much havoc eight people could wreak. The Great hall looked like a battlefield, chairs, tables, and dishes being covered by various food, and pumpkin juice running in little streams from the edges of the tables.

When everybody saw what they had done, the uncomfortable silence Ginny had expected earlier came.

"Erm..." Harry cleared his throat. "The table...is a mess," he observed.

"How did you see that? I think it looks rather nice. They call that modern art, you know," she said dryly.

"Uh, d'you guess we should clean up?" Colin asked, clearly showing that he wasn't too enthusiastic about the thought.

"What do you think we should do? Of course we will clean up! Ginny and Sheila, you to clean the chairs, me and Colin will do the ..."

After a quarter of an hour they were finished. The table and the seats were clean and the food was back where it belonged. Ginny stood at the end of the table, looking pleased. They had done a good job.

"Man, I'm happy we didn't have to do it the Muggle way!" Colin sighed, collapsing into a chair.

"You better get up and clean yourself too. You know, your hair looks very delicious, but I think everybody will be grateful if they don't have to wipe little pieces of porridge out of their face every time you fly past them," Ginny announced and left the Hall, the rest of the team at her heels.

Draco had watched the whole thing with disgust. That was so childish. He had difficulties concentrating on his breakfast, while those Gryffindors had their breakfast in their faces, hair, on their clothes and maybe under their fingernails -that thought gave Draco the creeps.

And when they had started to clean up he couldn't resist snorting out loudly. Typically Gryffindor he thought, feeling superior. A Slytherin would have let that to the house-elves.

When they were done the Weasley girl even looked pleased. If he had cleaned a table for others he would back away from himself in disgust, well, if it was possible to back away from oneself he would, at least. But then, Weasley would have to that kind of work for the rest of her life, so it couldn't hurt practising a little, could it?

An hour later the whole school was in the stands of the Quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor team sat nervously in the changing room, everybody pale, watching the time as it crept forward without haste. The seconds passed so slowly that each of them seemed like an hour to Ginny.

She had wanted this game to come. She had longed for it, like she longed for Malfoy to kiss her again. But now she wasn't sure whether she was able to play. I am a good player, so why am I so afraid of that match? We will win, we almost always do.

I wouldn't rely on the past too much if I were you.

Hey, leave me alone. Just be quiet, just like you were before I ran into Malfoy last night!

Well, since you mention it, I made a little trip into his mind yesterday.

You did what?

Well, visited him, talked to him.

You didn't tell him you were my conscious, did you?

Well...

Oh my god, are you crazy?

Well since you are I have to be, too. And besides, I got a most interesting view on his thoughts. You know what? He thinks that your legs are sexy and he secretly hopes that you will play in a skirt again today.

Okay, now I know that you're lying. He wouldn't have told you that.

He didn't tell me. I saw it. I looked for the things going on in his mind that he wanted least that others would find out. And the thing with your legs was one of those things. The others were a pair of glowing boxers that he wasn't able to turn back to normal, the fact that he absolutely despises his family, at least his father, and...

Okay, I don't want to hear more.

Ha, that is so unfair. You never let me finish my sentences. You know if there was a committee for misuse of the conscious I would go and...

-Cut it out! Be quiet!

I...

No!

Okay.

Five minutes later the team stepped out onto the pitch nervously, knees trembling, while Carmencita Bell, who was commentating announced their names, Harry, Ginny and for some odd reason Colin received the loudest cheers. Ginny couldn't explain to herself that someone would cheer at Colin that over-enthusiastically. Not that he wasn't a bad player, but he was usually regarded as a little slow with his mind.

Out there the team captains had to shake hands. Ginny saw Draco saying something while casting Harry and amused look. Then they both walked back to their teams, Harry not looking all too pleased.

Good luck, and don't break your neck! Remember that I'll be dead then too. You don't want to end up in hell for murdering me?

I don't believe that hell could be worse than you.

Hey I know that ...

"OFF!" Madam Hoochs voice cut into the beginning speech of Ginny's conscious. Everybody kicked off the ground and Ginny was in possession of the Quaffle. She passed it to Colin, then sped away towards the goalposts. Colin threw the Quaffle in her direction, and she scored. Carmencita Bell, who was commentating cheered out loudly and Ginny saw Harry and Colin doing some loop-de-loops.

The game continued. Ginny's heart raced, and every time she passed Draco it felt like it would burst. But somehow she managed to concentrate on the match.

Persephone Johnson was now trying to pass the Quaffle to Colin, because the Slytherin Beaters kept aiming the Bludgers at her. Ginny threw and caught the Quaffle, she flew and stopped, but the whole situation seemed very unreal to her. She didn't hear much of the noise around her. It all seemed as if she was watching the whole thing, seeing herself playing and scoring again.

She only heard her own breath, heartbeat and Carmencitas voice crying out loudly: "Weasley - Johnson - oh, no! How could that happen? The Slytherins caught the Quaffle. O'Cure is now in possession of it, and ...- WATCH OUT ROBIN! Damn it, too late, Slytherin scores. 110 to 90 points for Gryffindor!"

Ginny smiled, catching the Quaffle out of the air and passing it to Perth, as how they called Persephone. That was typical for Carmencita. She always tried to warn the Gryffindor Keeper if a Slytherin Chaser was approaching him, and McGonagall constantly warned her that she would be sent off the pitch if she ever did that again. But she never kept word, and Carmencita always stayed until the end of the game.

Suddenly the crowd was aaahing and ooohing, and Carmencita exclaimed: "Now would you look at that? It seems like Harry has seen the Snitch, and now he's heading to get it, Malfoy at his heels." Everybody tried to watch Harry and Draco, except for Ginny.

She couldn't understand why everybody froze in midair just to watch them. If anyone got the Snitch they would surely notice because of the cheering or screaming crowd, and if not -which happened far more often- it would take a while to get the game going again.

Ginny had the Quaffle in her hands and was just heading for the goalposts when she saw Harry crossing her way, diving down rapidly missing her only by a few centimetres. Draco however was not so lucky. When Ginny stopped in shock because she and Harry had nearly collided he managed to come to a halt only one second before he crashed into her.

Before anyone could say anything, the crowd cheered, and when Ginny looked down she saw Harry holding up the Snitch. "AND GRYFFINDOR WINS! HARRY POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH; WHOOO - HOOO! GRYFFINDOR RULES, YEAH!" Carmencita shouted at the top of her lungs.

Ginny started shouting and cheering too, but was interrupted by a veeeeery angry Draco Malfoy. "Now look at that!" he spat "Which idiot said that Gryffindors are brave and don't cheat? But then, your team plays so lousy that you wouldn't have a chance to win in another way. But I am soooo sorry to tell you that there will be a rematch." With that he turned around and descended slowly, joining his team.

After he was gone, Ginny exhaled loudly with relief. She had expected him to kill her, or at least try it. He had acted in a very unmalfoyish way. But the way he had spoken and looked seemed even more dangerous than a very long, sharp knife, at least in that moment. Ginny shrugged and tried not to think of how he would take revenge on her, of which she was sure that he would. He was acting slightly weird lately, but he nevertheless was Draco Malfoy!

Late in the evening the Gryffindors were still celebrating in their common room, drinking butterbeer and telling Ginny that she needn't have blocked Malfoy, but that it was still a cool move because he was sooooooooooo pissed off afterwards. Nobody would listen to her when she told them that she had done it unintentionally.

Finally all the cheering and noise were too much for her and she left the common room, heading for the lake to have some peace for a couple of minutes. When she arrived there, she saw the silhouette of a person leaning against a tree, but since it was already dark she couldn't see who it was.

So she approached the dark figure, curious who was out there at that time of the night. When she saw it, her heart jumped and then fell down into the depths of her legs, or even deeper. It was Draco! (A/N: Surprise, surprise! I know that she constantly runs into Draco, and it's a cliché, but I can't help it. It isn't that she doesn't run into other persons too, I just don't write about it!)

She thought that she had been very quiet, but somehow he must have heard her because he spun around wildly, grabbed her shoulder and pressed her against the tree heavily. "What are you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth unable to control his breath, which was going rapidly with anger.

Uh oh, he doesn't look too pleased to see you...

"Go back and celebrate with your idiot friends but leave this place immediately, or I'll positively kill you!"

"Uh, actually I would really like to go, but you are still pressing me against that tree," she said rather quietly.

He looked at her for a moment but didn't loosen his grip on her shoulder. "I've changed my mind. I think I won't let you go, instead I will tear your head off and eat my breakfast out of the skull tomorrow. I won't even have to get the brain out, since you obviously lack one," he remarked.

Ginny squirmed and resolved not to scream out "Yech!" because she pictured him eating his porridge out of her skull. But she was so busy with not trying to think of it that she didn't notice the mischievous grin that spread over his face slowly.

"No, I have and even better idea!" he announced "I think just killing you wouldn't be much of a pastime. I guess it would be much more amusing if you tried to defend yourself for a while. How about a wizarding duel? Tomorrow night. No secundants. In the forbidden forest. What do you think?" She stared at him. He couldn't possibly mean what he was saying, could he?

When she didn't respond, he asked "What, are you afraid?"

"No, but you are. I hear you pissed your pants in your first year and ran away screaming?"

"That was then and now is now. You may still have your old habits like sleeping with a teddy in your arms, but I don't. So you are afraid. Well, what else is to be expected from a girl?"

Ginny felt the blood rush through her veins and her face reddening with anger. "Girl? I am NOT scared of a little bastard like you. Of course I will come. Meet you at Hagrid's hut tomorrow, at midnight. And don't forget to bring a coffin in your size!" With that she pushed him away and walked back to her dorm.

Now why did I do that? I know that he knows a lot of dark magic, and I know as much as a bunch of hey. I need help. I guess I have to ask Sheila. But not today. Now I'm tired, and definitely not in the mood for one of her 'Why did you do that?'-speeches.

So she didn't tell Sheila of what had happened and went to bed, sinking into a light sleep, having several nightmares, each of them featuring steel-grey eyes, a dark creepy forest and lots of dark magic. Every time she woke up she was soaked with sweat, and finally gave up sleep at 3:30 am. Instead she started to do her potions homework, which was pretty much the same as having a nightmare. After an hour of working (10%) and yawning (90%) she fell asleep again, this time not dreaming anything.

After Ginny had gone Draco sunk down on the ground, leaning against the tree. Damn! He thought, mentally slapping himself. He had managed not to kill her on the pitch and had gone away as quickly as possible because he had thought that a rematch would be out of question if he harmed her. But Madam Hooch had said that things like this could happen and that Ginny had blocked him without purpose. Idiotic woman!

Then his thoughts began to drift into the same direction as Ginny's, although he didn't know it. Why did he do that? Why had he proposed a duel? No, that is not the question. Why in the Forbidden Forest? It might have scared her but it scares me too. He still was afraid of the Forbidden Forest but not as much as he had been in his first year.

That is all because I let my anger take control of me again! He thought, angry at himself. Of course I have a right to be angry at her. That was the last match against Gryffindor I will ever take part in. And she spoiled it! She spoiled my last chance to beat Potter! IT IS NOT FAIR! He picked up a stone and threw it into the lake, hoping that he'd hit one of those many creatures living in there.

* * * * *

Okay, enough is enough! He thought, swallowing his pride, put on another pair of boxershorts and stormed out of his dorm. He ran through the dungeon corridors and came to a halt in front of a door. As embarrassing as this is going to be but I think I'll have to ask Snape for help!

Taking in breath sharply, he knocked at the door. After a minute or so he heard someone slowly approaching the door. When it opened he felt his heart sink. A minute ago he had been quite sure that he could do it, but now...

...it was too late anyway. Snape was standing in the doorway eyeing him curiously. Draco sighed thinking that he was too tired to explain the whole thing, so he just hold up the boxershorts and asked "Could you turn them back, professor?"

Snape cocked an eyebrow and it occurred to Draco that it might have been wise to wash the underwear before he'd give it to Snape.

"Turn them back? So this is not their original shape?" Snape said mockingly.

Draco rolled his eyes, completely forgetting to whom he was talking. "Of course not! That damned Weasley girl jinxed them. I CAN'T TURN THEM BACK! Those originally were black silk! She messed up my Giorgino boxershorts!" Now his voice was positively sounding desperate.

Snape had to fight back a grin. He knew Draco's foible for designer clothes and 'Giorgino' was the most expensive and exquisite wizard-wear label.

"What a terrible sin!" he finally said. "I warn you Draco, not every problem can be solved with murder!"

Draco glared at him. "I came to you for help and not for mockery, professor. If you don't know how to turn them back, just say so."

As Draco was his favourite pupil Snape didn't mind him speaking in that tone with him.

"Maybe a Luminous charm," he said after thinking for a while.

Draco shrugged. "Don't know. I didn't ask her"

"That much was obvious! A Luminous charm belongs to the group of Repeturus-charms. You just have to repeat the charm for it to be reversed. Finite Incantatem won't work. Luminou," he said, and the boxers immediately stopped glowing and the turned back into a deep black.

"Erm, thank you Professor," Draco said, turned around and went away. God, that was embarrassing! Not only that I had to ask for help but that I could have figured it out easily myself!

Slowly he trotted back to his dorm, let himself sink down on his bed, throwing the boxers into a corner of the room.

That night he didn't sleep well. He had terrible nightmares about the Forbidden Forest. If he had known that Ginny suffered because of them, too, that night he would have been even more embarrassed than he was anyway. Draco Malfoy having nightmares! Potter would surely like to know that.

When he woke up the next morning he had banned the things that had happened the previous night out of his mind. At least the thing with the boxershorts. He was very grateful that Snape didn't mention anything about it at breakfast but Draco strongly suspected that he had talked to Professor Flitwick because the tiny professor announced in Charms that they would spend the next few lessons studying Repeturus charms.

Draco glared at him while Flitwick cheerfully handed everybody some hexed objects because they had to discover which Repeturus charm lasted on that object and de-hex it.

"They are all very easy charms and I am certain that you will be able to have your work done in less than thirty minutes, starting now!"

After an hour even Crabbe and Goyle had figured out how to do it and the professor looked at their work closely. "Well done Mister Malfoy. Yours was rather difficult in comparison with the others. Yes, yes Atypicus spell..." he murmured when he examined Draco's box.

"Was it?" he asked, just to show he was listening.

"Yes, but surely you must have known, otherwise you couldn't have..."

"I need to know?" Draco asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Actually I didn't know that it was an Atypicus spell or however it is called. I just tried Finite Incantatem and it worked!"

Now Professor Flitwick was looking rather dumbstruck. "But, how...?" he said, shaking his head. "I must have put the wrong spell on it..." he murmured while walking back to his desk.

The rest of the lesson was rather uneventful and boring and Draco was glad when it finally ended. He packed his books and left the classroom for lunch.

When he settled down in a chair in the great hall he had the strange feeling that somebody was staring at him, he looked up and saw that Ginny was glaring at him from the Gryffindor table.

Pansy Parkinson who was sitting next to Draco and had noticed Ginny's glare, too, said "Dear, if looks could kill..."

"You would probably sink down dead now, with her having the typical Gryffindor aiming skills," Draco finished her sentence. "If I were you I'd stay away from me for a little while" he added, "it could be rather dangerous, you know."

* * * * *



* * * * *

Doesn't matter!

Does matter!

Does not!

Oh yes it does!

No, see how he's flirting with Pansy?

Ginny girl, can't you see? He's not flirting with her!

He is. Flirting with PANSY PARKINSON, oh dear, he has really bad taste

No, he would have bad taste if he flirted with you!

Pansy Parkinson, I don't believe it! Pansy Parkinson! I mean, that name! Sounds like she was a big pink frilly thing that can't control the movements of it's arms!

Why can't it control the movements of it's arms?

Parkinson!

Whats that?

A disease. People who suffer of Parkinson shake uncontrollably and make uncoordinated movements!

Oh, I didn't know that

Really? I guess I will celebrate this day until the end of my life. It will be called: "The 'Ginny's Conscious didn't know something'-day"

Or the "Draco flirted with Pansy during lunch-day"

I thought you said they didn't flirt?

I just changed my mind

You know what? You are very childish!

So are you!

I guess we'd rather bring this conversation to an end!

Yes, I think that'd be better too!

Mhm...

After lunch Draco slept through the whole divination class and asked himself later how he'd managed to do that, with that nasty smell the room had. Then he had Herbology and had to pull out a lot of plants he didn't remember the names of. He was very glad when lessons were over because Monday was always very dull.

Hey, I will have enough excitement tonight, so I should be grateful for every dull thing that happens now! He thought, remembering the wizarding duel. He also wondered whether he should look up some hexes but then decided not to because he knew enough to fight five Ginnys.

So he spent the rest of the day reading some very boring book Pansy had given to him. In fact he didn't read it, he just looked at it and occasionally turned a page, his mind elsewhere, but nowhere in particular. He thought that Pansy might have taken a liking on him because she constantly followed him (very bad for bad-tempered people!), gave him books (even worse for people like Draco), whose plot was always the same (uh-oh), fluffy love-story (alert, alert), that ended either with marriage (keep your heads down, or else it might get really uncomfortable) or a broken heart and suicide (Huh, relax guys, it's safe again!).

And she kept telling him that she thought glowing boxershorts were incredibly sexy (RUUUUUN! Run for your life... oh no, too late).

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the sun going down and the moon rising. Finally, when he put the book aside it was 11 p.m. [he was on page 52, and he had thought of: Pansy (bad), forbidden forest (very bad), Ginny (can't decide whether that is good or bad), hitting Ginny with the Cruciatus Curse (very good indeed), glowing boxershorts (erm, not that good...), getting the chance to get back at Ginny (better), chocolate (heaven) and much more]

When he finally realised that he had only one hour left until he had to go into the Forbidden Forest again he felt his stomach drop. That was certainly not going to be as much fun as he'd told Ginny that it'd be...

Ginny turned in her bed restlessly. She hadn't told Sheila yet because she'd feared that Sheila'd intervene. But she didn't want her to. Firstly because it was dangerous and secondly because Malfoy would have something new to tease her with. And she certainly didn't need that!

When it was half past eleven she got up and decided just to leave a note for Sheila, in case anything happened. She hastily scribbled a few words on a piece of parchment and put it on her bed.

Then she put on her cloak, grabbed her wand and left the Gryffindor Tower, praying that there was nobody sitting in the common room. But luck had decided to be on her side this time and she reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest incidentlessly.

She had to wait for Draco for some time. When he finally came it was a quarter past twelve.

"You're late," she remarked. "Elsewhere that might be considered ladylike but with me that isn't so."

Draco snorted.

If you want to say he's feminine with that, then you'd be a lesb!

"Shut up!" Ginny had again forgotten just to think that sentence.

"I didn't say anything, may I ask why you always talk so rude to me?"

"Actually I wasn't talking to you but I guess you would have said something very nasty soon, so I didn't say it to someone innocent!"

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Let's go," Ginny said because she wanted to have it behind her as soon as possible.

"Okay!" Draco said, turning towards a path that led into the forest.

Ginny followed him hesitantly because that was her first time in the dark, creepy forest. The branches of the trees hang deep and she brushed them from time to time. Every time she stepped onto the path it made a crunching noise as if she'd walk on some corn flakes or popcorn. With every step she took the forest got darker and darker and soon there was hardly any light left.

There were strange noises coming from everywhere around her and each time one of them was a bit louder than the others she had the feeling that somebody or something would jump on the path and attack them. She just hoped that it'd fight Draco first, so she may have the time to run away.

You are such a coward! the voice in her head piped up.

Afraid of every... what was that?

An owl.

No it wasn't.

Yes it was

No, owls do "shoo-hoo" or something like that.

It was an owl rustling in the branches of a tree, okay? That voice had the terrible attribute that it always scared her to death and Ginny said these things more to convince herself that it had been an owl than her conscious which seemed to be a little afraid, too, by now.

It was not an owl rustling in the branches of a tree because the noise came from the ground. It sounded as if it had more than two legs...

What do you mean? Are there any wolves in here?

Don't know, but it sounded as if it had more than four feet too!

Suddenly they stepped out onto a clearing which was dimly lit by the crescent moon that was partly covered by little clouds. It gave enough light to look at their surroundings now. The trees were very high in this part of the forest and the ground was covered in something misty and white. Ginny couldn't make out what it was but she was somehow happy not to know.

"Erm, why did it have to be in the Forbidden Forest?" she asked, not being able to stop herself. But he would have noticed how scared she was because she was so pale. She hadn't seen herself but she just knew she had to be as pale as a ghost.

"Because we don't want anybody to notice. Or would you like Professor Dumbledore discovering us having a wizarding duel and giving us detention until Doomsday?" answered after giving her a look of such self confidence that she thought that the Forest wasn't the only creepy thing around.

"Ah, yes, and I am sure you know exactly where we are?"

"Yes, can we begin now?" he asked unpatiently.

So he is afraid! she thought. She just wanted to answer when she saw that the path they had used started to move. How was that possible? She cast a glance at Draco who was staring unbelievingly at the path too.

It made it's way straight towards the middle of the clearing but after it had moved some feet it parted into to smaller paths, one moving towards Draco, the other one towards Ginny. When it came nearer, Ginny noticed that it wasn't a path but that there were millions of spiders approaching her.

She let out a shriek, jumped and ran towards Draco, clutching his arm, totally forgetting who he was, or maybe absolutely not forgetting who he was.

"Let go of my arm, Weasel, those are just spiders. Tiny, weak spiders, get off!"

Just in the moment when he'd said that other spiders came crawling out of the undergrowth. They were not all as small as the path-spiders and finally a huge spider stepped into the clearing.

It was at least seven feet tall. There was saliva dropping out of its mouth and it's eyes were white as if it were blind.

Then the animal opened it's mouth as it was going to speak. Ginny imagined that it said something. Something that sounded like 'bind them' but that was impossible.

But suddenly one of the larger spiders shot out a string of the white material that covered the ground. It hit Ginny and Draco at their arms and wound around their wrists, so they were tied together because Ginny still hadn't let go of Draco's arm.

She tried to free herself and so did Draco but they were bound very tightly and neither of them thought of drawing their wands and magically unfastening their bindings.

Now the spiders slowly advanced towards them and Ginny felt Draco stiffen beside her. She looked around and saw that the spiders were coming from nearly every direction. There was just one spot at the edge of the clearing that was completely spider-free.

"Turn around," she hissed silently. "There's a spot where there are no spiders, see? We'll run there at the count of three, okay?"

"Yes."

"Good. One... two..." She faced the spiders again of whom the first ones were now only a few feet away. She didn't know why but they seemed to be hesitating to attack them, which Ginny was sure they would do sooner or later.

"Three." They both spun around which caused them some problems because they turned in different directions which made their arms hang at a very strange angle. Then they ran towards the edge of the clearing in the meanwhile trying to get their arms into a normal angle again.

When they had managed to do that they just ran into the forest, not looking where they were going. They seemed to be able to run forever without getting exhausted but Ginny knew that wouldn't last for long. She vaguely remembered her father telling her something about the FFS, the Fight-and-Flight-Syndrome, which gave you strength in extremely dangerous situations which had caused the people ten thousands of years ago to climb a tree at high speed when a bear was approaching or something like that.

After about a quarter of an hour of running through the forest Ginny suddenly felt her legs again. Not that she hadn't felt that she had legs before but now she felt them which meant that they began to hurt and the soles of her feet began to sting.

So she just let herself sink down on the ground breathing hard with exhaustion while Draco ran on. Considering that they were tied together and he was running at very high speed Ginny wondered that he didn't simply rip off her arm and ran on. Instead he stumbled and fell back, directly on top of her.

"What do you think you are doing?" he shouted and started swearing.

"My feet hurt," Ginny complained. "And my legs, I think they ..." She broke off.

"What?"

"Listen!" she said, her voice trembling.

"I can't hear anything, what do you mean?" he asked.

Ginny pulled him off her and said "That's it. I can't hear anything either. Do you know where we are?"

"Yes, we ran away from that clearing...no I don't"

"You know what? We are lost and we are alone."

There they sat in the darkness, hands bound together, not knowing where they were, not knowing what to do, not knowing anything.

"We are alone..." Ginny repeated, staring into where she believed would be the sky if the trees hadn't blocked her vision.